Congress asks Natwar Singh to come clean on Volcker Report

Mounting a scathing attack on former external affairs minister Natwar Singh, the Congress on Friday asked him to come clean on the issue of accepting "kickbacks" on the United Nation's oil-for-food programme that forced the party to extricate him from the government and the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Singh should have clarified in his upcoming book on this black spot on his character. Singh, while revealing many things has chosen to remain mum on his family venture of making money that had even cast aspersions on the Congress until it was completely exonerated in an inquiry conducted by former Chief Justice of India RS Pathak, who has been also a former judge of the International Court of Justice.

Natwar Singh also came under attack from his brother-in-law CaptAmarinder Singh, the deputy leader of Congress in the LokSabha, for making public a "private conversation" and information shared with him in confidence that Sonia Gandhi opted out of becoming the prime minister in 2004 because of Rahul's resistance.

Capt Singh's sister is married to Natwar Singh. "It was natural for Rahul, who at that time was just about 30, to voice his concerns over the security of his mother in case she became Prime Minister as he had lost his grandmother and father within a span of less than seven years,” he said.

Singhvi said the Congress had no alternative but to act against Natwar in the light of the Volcker report identifying his family, including his son Jagat and his childhood friend Andaleeb Sehgal, more so after the Justice Pathak report on how Sehgal and Aditya Khanna, a family member of Natwar, got the pay-offs based on his recommendation letter.